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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to live in this photograph?

68 replies

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 16:30

With these slim, casual, at ease folks from the 1980's enjoying delicious, communal Italian food and pasta ..

I could quite happily crawl back in time and join them for a glass or two. Or just steal the food, the weather and the scenery, wrap it up in a huge sack and drag it back to the uk. Of course, I would dribble the sauce down the front of my white shirt within a minute.

If this was now, they'd all be fighting over their unique exclusion or macro enhanced diets. Someone would wind up being pushed right over that ledge because the pasta is simply white Durum instead of wholewheat Grin

"Is that a lentil ragu or some sort of beef?"
"I've no idea, but I'm not touching it unless it contains 500g of protein!".

Image is by the photographer Slim Aarons: Dining Al Fresco On Capri.

To want to live in this photograph?
OP posts:
ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 17:57

Dontlletmedownbruce · 31/07/2026 17:56

I don't get how this is different from any group of people enjoying a meal together today. I don't know who you hang out with OP but my friends and family don't go on phones or endlessly talk about diets or nutrition. When we do eat together we are present and enjoy conversation and the food and drink.

the fuck are you talking about?
this was a pretty fun thread, i thought.

OP posts:
Dontlletmedownbruce · 31/07/2026 17:56

I don't get how this is different from any group of people enjoying a meal together today. I don't know who you hang out with OP but my friends and family don't go on phones or endlessly talk about diets or nutrition. When we do eat together we are present and enjoy conversation and the food and drink.

MrsMoastyToasty · 31/07/2026 17:45

Im thinking " i wonder if I can risk putting the table cloth in the same wash as the white shirts"

FeliciaFancybottom · 31/07/2026 17:43

It looks like a still from a Wham tribute band video.

godmum56 · 31/07/2026 17:40

what is wrong with her left (nearest the table) boob?

Bananacrepewithnuts · 31/07/2026 17:40

Yes please
😊

Overtheatlantic · 31/07/2026 17:39

Marie: “You know perfectly well I can’t tolerate kale with my IBS; do you care nothing about my health?”

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 17:33

James: "Yum, looks splendid!"
Marie: "Mmm, not much protein, is there? "
James: "Why of course there is! There's the lentil ragu the rior di latte, the fresh pasta..."
Marie: "What? That doesn't strike me as fulfilling the full spectrum of essential amino acids".
James: "I...er...ok".

Phil: "What was that? Hey, how are we doing for macros here, is there any kale?".

OP posts:
parallhel · 31/07/2026 17:30

I think that's a massive "Muriel" behind them 😊

sittingonabeach · 31/07/2026 17:28

LittleGreenDuck · 31/07/2026 17:10

I’d be worried about leaning too far back in my chair and plunging over the cliff to my untimely death. I guess I’d at least have had a nice tea first.

That was my first thought, especially if I had been on the wine!

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 31/07/2026 17:27

I was a kid in the eighties and while it wasn’t perfect, i now realise it was free from the constant existential drama that exists now. Ever since Covid we’ve existed in the early frames of a horror movie. Constant suspense and dramatic orchestral music as we move nearer to the basement door.

parallhel · 31/07/2026 17:27

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 17:24

Servant under table clutching a can of RAID?

😂😂😂

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 17:24

parallhel · 31/07/2026 17:14

How do they (and others) keep flies, wasps, bees and assorted insects off the food please. I am taking notes.

Servant under table clutching a can of RAID?

OP posts:
Overtheatlantic · 31/07/2026 17:22

BurntBroccoli · 31/07/2026 17:14

Why is there only one glass of wine?

🤣

Girasoli · 31/07/2026 17:21

I suppose she was looking back with rose tinted glasses, but my Italian nonna alway said it seemed less stressful to be a young mum back in her day because she had lots of friends and sisters in law all in the same village.

I've got hair like curly hair lady, it's nice to look at but it's a pain in this heat! I've kept it in a plait most of the summer.

CarlaH · 31/07/2026 17:17

BestIsWest · 31/07/2026 17:11

I think the cheesy looking thing might be a dessert. Torta Caprese maybe. It’s a sort of flat almond cake. Sometimes chocolate, sometimes lemon.

I think so too.

Likeiloveyou · 31/07/2026 17:15

SeasideDaisy · 31/07/2026 16:46

I don’t know what’s wrong with me because my first thought was.. They all look dangerously close to the edge of a cliff and there’s not even a fence up behind that row of men.

Me too!

BurntBroccoli · 31/07/2026 17:14

Why is there only one glass of wine?

parallhel · 31/07/2026 17:14

How do they (and others) keep flies, wasps, bees and assorted insects off the food please. I am taking notes.

BestIsWest · 31/07/2026 17:11

I think the cheesy looking thing might be a dessert. Torta Caprese maybe. It’s a sort of flat almond cake. Sometimes chocolate, sometimes lemon.

LittleGreenDuck · 31/07/2026 17:10

I’d be worried about leaning too far back in my chair and plunging over the cliff to my untimely death. I guess I’d at least have had a nice tea first.

shoparoundthecorner1 · 31/07/2026 17:10

I believe this was taken at Umberto Tirelli’s (fashion designer) villa so the food was definitely cooked by staff! I’ve always loved this picture too and find it so dreamy and atmospheric. There is another version more zoomed out where you can see more of another table at the side with grapes, plates and cutlery etc.

Happyjoe · 31/07/2026 17:07

It's idillic! I'd happy be there too. Did you see the news this week that the healthy med diet in Italy is going and their obesity rates, esp with children are one of the worst now?

Meredusoleil · 31/07/2026 17:06

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 16:55

I also want to know what this food is in the very bottom right corner, looks like some sort of cheese something or other (the thing that looks like a boating hat!)

It's not very clear and quite blurry. But I will guess at lasagne or cannelloni at a glance?

NovemberMorn · 31/07/2026 17:02

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 17:00

Am getting ready now, will be there later, just add another chair for me.

Haha...the pasta and pizza are already in the oven. x